Drum practice pad



Jan. 26, 1965 G, M, ELLMAN 3,156,970

DRUM PRACTICE PAD Filed May 2, 1965 United States Patent Oice 3,166,970DRUM PRACTICE PAD Gilberte/l. Eiirnan, Chicago, Ill., assignor to PepProducts, Inc., a corporation of Illinois Filed May '2, 1963, Ser. No.277,570 6 Claims. (Cl. 842-411) This invention relates in general tomusical instruments, and more particularly to a drum practice pad whichmay -be positioned upon a drum head, or upon any available at surface.

A problem which has confronted both drum instructors and students alikehas been the provision of means for reducing the noise of a practicingstudent to a tolerable level so as not to disturb those in the vicinitywhile the student is improving his skills. Several expedients have beenresorted to by those skilled in the art to provide a drum practicingdevice which obviates the problem of objectionable noise. For example,as shown in U.S. Patent No. 1,688,561 to Straub, it has been proposed tomount an annular plate, with a sheet of heavy rubber stretchedthereover, on an adjustable stand. It is also known to -provide a soundabsorbing pad under an ordinary drum head, as shown in U.S. Patent No.1,789,992 to Stevens. Another method has been to mount a practice paddirectly on a drum with the pad having a mu'ier portion engageable withthe drum head, and a portion of resilient material to `be struck withthe drumsticks. This arrangement is typified by that shown in U.S.Patent No. 2,078,004 to Lebow. U.S. Patent No. 2,475,873 to Banta showsa practice drum having means associated therewith for carrying thedrumsticks. In U.S. Patent No. 2,326, 305 a practice drum is shownwherein the drum head is stretched over a chambered member and clampedbetween a base and an annular rim. Although such devices have servedtheir purpose, they have not proved entirely satisfactory due to eitherthe prohibitively high cost of the device, or to -its failure to in factadequately reduce the noise level. Accordingly, the general purpose ofthe present invention is to provide a drum practice pad which is simplein construction and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and whichallows the student to improve his skills with a minimum of disturbanceto those in the vicinity.

An object of the lpresent invention is the provision of a drum practicepad wherein the pad body is a single molded member.

Another object of lthe invention is the provision of a drum practice4pad wherein the playing surface is positioned at the proper playingangle when the pad is placed upon a flat surface.

Still another object of the invention is to form a drum practice pad ofa material having a resilience which closely simulates a conventionaldrum head.

A further object of the invention is to .provide a drum practice padwith two playing surfaces, one playing surface having a reduced area sothat stick control may be practiced.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a drum practicepad as defined in the previous paragraph with both audible and visiblemeans to determine if the playing surface of reduced area has beenmissed by the player.

And a `further object of the invention is the provision of means on theplaying surface of the drum practice pad to retain it in position on asmooth surface.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent fromthe following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE l is a plan View of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

S@ Patented Jan. 26, 1965 FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of theembodiment shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View taken substantially as shown along line 3-3of FIGURE l; and

FIGURE 4 is a bottom View of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1.

While this invention is susceptible to embodiment in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail only one specific embodiment, with the understanding that thepresent disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theprinciples of the invention and is not intended to limit the inventionto the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will bepointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings, reference numeral 10 is used to indicatelthe novel drum practice pad in its entirety. Pad `10 includes agenerally cylindrically shaped body 11 having a first playing surface 12positioned substantially perpendicularly to the axis of the cylinder,and a second playing surface 13 positioned at an angle with respect tothe axis of the cylinder. Body 11 is formed of a resilient materialwhich has characteristics substantially identical to that of aconventional drum head so as to give the player the feeling that he isactually striking a drum head rather than a practice pad. A materialwhich is well suited for this purpose consists ot' a combination ofnatural and synthetic rubber which measures between 45 and 55 on theShore-A durometer.

Inclined surface 13 is provided with an annular recess 14 which ispreferably concentric with the axis of cylindrical tbody 11. A centralboss is thus created having a playing surface 15 with an areasubstantially less than the area of the playing surface on face 12.

A hat annular insert 16 is snugly received in recess 14, and sharplysets off playing surface 15 from the rest of the pad. Insert 16 ispreferably formed of a material which is less resilient than thematerial of body 11, so that the player can easily determine when he hasmissed playing surface 15. It is also desirable that insert 16 be formedof a material having different sound characteristics than -body 11, sothat the player can audibly determine when the drumsticks have struckeither surface 15 or insert 16. In order to visually aid the player instriking playing surface 15, it is also desirable that insert 16 have acolor which sharply contrasts with the color of playing surface 15. Apiece of light colored cardboard has been found to adequately fulllthese needs. However, the invention is not limited to any particularmaterial, and other materials such as wood or plastic would also besuitable.

A pair of concentric projections 17, 17 and 18, 18 are provided onsurface 13 and 12, respectivel Projections 17 and 18 are preferablyconcentric with the axis of cylindrical body 11 and as will be readilyappreciated, eectively retain pad 10 in place on a flat surface or on adrum head.

I claim:

l. A drum practice pad comprising, a generally cylindrical body ofresilient material having a first playing surface normal to the axis ofsaid cylindrical body and a second surface inclined with respect to theaxis of said cylindrical body, said inclined surface having an annularrecess defining a second playing surface at the central portion thereofof smaller diameter than said first playing surface.

2. A drum practice pad comprising, a generally cylindrical body ofresilient material having a `first playing surface normal to the axis ofsaid cylindrical body and a second surface inclined with respect to theaxis of said cylindrical body, said inclined surface having an annularrecess, and an annular insert positioned in said recess to define asecond playing surface at the central portion thereof of smallerdiameter than said irst playing surface.

3. The practice pad defined in claim 2 wherein said insert is lformed ofa material less resilient than the material of said body.

4. The practice'pad defined in claim 2 wherein said body and said inserthave contrasting colors to sharply delineate said area of reduced size.

5. The practice pad dened in claim 2 wherein said body and said insertare formed of materials having different sound characteristics.

6. The practice pad defined in claim 2 wherein nonslip means areprovided on each of said surfaces.

4 Reerences Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHERREFERENCES New Ludwig Practice Pad, The Music Trade Review,

10 page 43, October 4, 1924.

Coles Round Solid Rubber Drum Practice Pad, Rogers Catalog 62R, page 58,1962.

1. A DRUM PRACTICE PAD COMPRISING, A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL BODY OFRESILIENT MATERIAL HAVING A FIRST PLAHING SURFACE NORMAL TO THE AXIS OFSAID CYLINDRICAL BODY AND A SECOND SURFACE INCLINED WITH RESPECT TO THEAXIS OF SAID CYLINDRICAL BODY, SAID INCLINED SURFACE HAVING AN ANNULARRECESS DEFINING A SECOND PLAYING SURFACE AT THE CENTRAL PORTION THEREOFOF SMALLER DIAMETER THAN SAID FIRST PLAYING SURFACE.